Benchmarking terrestrial models. ENSEMBLES Deliverable 6.5

Abstract

This report marks both the culmination of work carried out under the banner of ENSEMBLES WP6.1 during 2006-2009, to develop and apply a universal set of benchmarks for terrestrial carbon cycle modelling, and the starting phase of an international collaborative activity called iLAMB (for international Land Atmosphere Model Benchmarking), which also brings in a parallel effort in the USA (Randerson et al. 2009). iLAMB has attracted the interest of the wider community of weather, climate and carbon cycle modellers in Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and Australia. It held its first planning meeting in Exeter in June 2009, and was showcased at the GEWEX-iLEAPS Open Science Conference in Melbourne in August of the same year. In addition to core support from ENSEMBLES to groups participating in WP6.1 (Met Office, LSCE, Bristol, Lund, Potsdam), the work described here has benefited from additional work financed by NERC’s Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST) programme through its project Carbon Cycle Modelling, Analysis and Prediction (CCMAP), the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and the Met Office